Brothers Through Time
by sharingang
Summary: Indra and Asura were destined to fight forever through their reincarnations. Next up in line were our dear Sasuke and Naruto, but The Nine-Tailed-Fox is fed up with this cycle of violence. If Naruto and Sasuke remember their original lives, what would change? Would either of them realize that the other remembers too? [no pairings for a while]
1. Prologue

**AN: Hey everyone, so this is my first Naruto fanfic and I hope you all like it as much as I do. I've got most of the plot already planned out, but if you have suggestions you're more than welcome to PM me or leave a review about it! I enjoy constructive criticism and I don't _really_ care if you flame or not, just know that it will probably just make you look dumb _(insert Kakashi eye-smile)_. Also, if you don't like my writing style or if the plot is going too fast/slow, please say something so I can improve. (I hate reading fics with a good plot but an annoying writing style). So yeah, this fic will mostly be about what would happen if Naruto and Sasuke remembered their past lives as Indra and Asura. We'll get to Naruto and Sasuke's era during the first chapter (not the prologue), so don't worry if you're looking for that.**

 **EDIT 7/26/15:**

 **-conjoined original prologue and chapter 1**

 **-added Indra vs. Asura fight scene**

 **-fixed several typos**

 **-rewrote lots of descriptions and some conversations**

 **(re-read strongly recommended – new fight scene and conversation that are important to the plot and better reading experience overall)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters from it, if I did, Naruto would have a better fashion sense and Minato would _somehow, someway,_ find a way to be alive a little longer.**

"Talking"

 _'Thinking'_

 _Flashback/Dream_

" **Bijuu Talking"**

 _ **'Bijuu thinking'**_

* * *

 _Prologue_

It was a wonderful fall day. The fallen leaves painted the forest floor in a beautiful mix of deep reds and rusty yellows. The climate was unusually warm for the time of year, not that any of its inhabitants were complaining.

To the eastern side of the forest was a circular clearing, currently being occupied by two young boys. The first of them was no more than eleven years of age. His light-colored kimono hung limp on his thin frame, just loose enough for a shoulder to pop out every now and then. Framing his high cheekbones were two locks of his unruly, spiky, brown hair wrapped in white cloth. If not for the baby fat clinging to them, his elegantly regal facial features would seem completely out of place.

The other boy lay next to him on a tall rock, a peaceful expression on his stern countenance. Around fourteen years old, his lean body shape was enveloped in a dark grey kimono. He sported long, navy-black hair that was also bound by wraps of white cloth on either side of his face. Under his closed eyelids were three black tomoe swimming in pools of deep crimson. Above them, his dark eyebrows were cut short as a sign of nobility and wealth. Markings of the same dark color as his hair accented the skin under his eyes, giving him a more exotic look.

A devious smirk made its way on the first's visage as he teetered on his tiptoes to reach his hands above the older boy. In the air he held two bowls, one of water and one of flour, both precariously close to spilling their contents onto said older boy. He had crept up silently and expertly – or so he liked to think – as to not wake his victim. He carefully started to tilt the wooden bowls, ready to poor out their contents and run.

"Indra-kun~! Asura-kun~!" A sing-song voice drawled from the edge of the clearing.

He yelped and fell back on his rear, his master plan foiled. Despite his efforts to keep the bowls balanced, gravity took its course and the unfortunate prankster found himself on the wrong end of his own mischief.

"Gah! Tou-san! I almost had 'm, I was _this_ close!" Asura complained as he held up his index finger and thumb to prove his point.

Indra scoffed. "I knew you were there the whole time, Otouto. I was planning on dodging it when you made your move, regardless of what Tou-san did or did not do,"

" _Of course_ you would have. I forgot I was in the presence of _The Great Sensor Indra-sama,_ " Asura quipped. "But I wasn't _actually_ going to do anything," He added on innocently, just for safe measures.

The owner of the voice stepped out of the foliage and into the clearing, a fond smile pulling at the corners of his lips. He was a tall, pale-skinned man, power oozing out of his very presence. He had two horns poking out of his spiky, red shoulder-length hair, and a grandfatherly goatee on his chin. He wore a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black magatama around its high collar. His most defining feature was his purplish-gray, ripple-patterned eyes, at least according to most people. If one were to ask his youngest son, he would adamantly respond that it was his 'no-eye-browed-awesomeness'.

"I'm never going to get tired of your antics, Asura-kun."

Asura wasn't one to turn down praise when he got it, and took his father's remark as such. He started to pull apart a few strings of sticky hair in front of his smug face before turning back to his father.

"Tou-san, can we go back to the house? I would like to clean the paste off my clothes and out of my hair in the waterfall before dinner," The man made an affirmative grunt as he picked up his shakujo and signaled his sons to follow.

Asura stuck his tongue out in concentration and focused on separating his hairs from the gooey flour-water mixture as he strolled home leisurely. Next to him, Indra marched on with determination, as per usual, only stealing curious glances at his younger brother when he thought his father wasn't looking. The sage watched his children from behind amusedly, oh how he wished they would stay this innocent forever. But in the back of his mind, he knew they would be anything but.

The sun and the moon – which he had recently created, by the way – were what he liked to compare to his two sons. Asura would be the sun, always cheery and warm towards others, bringing light and energy to all who looked at him. The boy had always been the more open-minded of the two brothers, believing that love, cooperation, and understanding was the way to achieve world-peace. His brother, with the independence and mysteriousness of the moon, was of a different opinion. Indra believed that power was the key, and the world would only ever have true peace if ruled under an iron fist. Perhaps his view was skewed from his own experience with power – being the prodigy and talented one of the family was bound to bias him one way or another, even if he did inherit his father's strong genes. Asura was not so lucky, but devoted his time – when he wasn't busy pranking said prodigy – to becoming a genius of hard work.

When they finally arrived at their little make-shift home, Asura immediately bounded off to the waterfall while Hagoromo and Indra went inside to get their dinner prepared.

As he approached the waterfall he couldn't help but gawk at its sheer size – despite having seen it plenty of times already. Its peak was around three hundred feet above sea-level, and ended some fifty feet underground after it dipped into a ravine. It cloaked the entrance to a cave, where his less-human siblings resided. Inside it had a flat, circular base and beautiful crystals of all colors on the walls and ceiling.

Once he was broken out of his musings, he stepped under the waterfall and willed the clear blue water to coil and twist around and through his hair and clothes. All went well until he commanded the water to curl tighter around his torso to clean his shirt. It shouldn't have been such a surprise when he lost control of the water and it sprayed outwards into the cave – he never _was_ any good at using his father's 'Ninshu'.

" **Oi! Gaki! I think a lot of us are trying to** _ **sleep**_ **here!"**

Asura reluctantly turned around and hopped down from the ledge he was bathing himself on and walked through the water to the other side of the waterfall. His hand subconsciously scratched the back of his neck as he looked up to face the disgruntled owner of the voice, who just happened the eldest of his younger siblings. "Heheehe~ …. Sorry, I was trying to clean myself off with the water manipulation Tou-san taught me but I guess I lost control..."

" **Mmph. You mean** _ **tried**_ **to teach you.** _ **Tried**_ **,"** replied the low, baritone voice as its owner, an orangey-red colored fox with nine tails and rabbit ears, got up from his sleeping position in the dog-pile of other mix-matched animals. This resulted in more than a few sleepy groans from said animals, or Bijuu, as their father liked to call them.

Asura had always been especially fond of them, and they reciprocated his feelings. Asura was a very social person and although he loved his brother and father dearly, they never really provided the kind of company he needed. The Bijuu had quickly filled this gap in his life and become his go-to source when he needed somebody to complain to. They were always there to listen to, make fun of, and give advice to him when he asked. While Asura was technically older than them, the intelligence of each of the chakra-constructs was by their father's design automatically much wiser and greater than his own, so they treated him like the littlest brother.

"Hey, you shut it, Kurama! I almost did it that time you stupid fox! I was _this_ close!" he yelled as he put up his index finger and thumb for reference, one of his quirks he picked up from dealing with being the self-proclaimed 'failure of the family'. Everyone in their unconventional family would deny it immediately whenever he put himself down, but he couldn't possibly shake his inferiority complex when he would constantly compare himself to his prodigious brother. His actions earned a few chuckles from the heap of chakra.

Another of the Bijuu, a blue, two tailed cat, snorted and curled up tighter around her tanuki brother for warmth. " **Yeah, yeah, sure. Just don't involve us in the consequences of the failures of your so-called 'master plans' if you can help it, Asura-chan.** _ **I**_ **, for one, am going** **back to sleep,"**

"'Asura _-chan_ '? I'm older than you, Matatabi! See this? Does everybody see this? I get no respect for my master plans! None!" Asura waved his hands up in mock hurt and frustration as he turned around to go eat dinner with more _human_ family. Matatabi always had more of a mother complex with the other tailed beasts and Asura - Shukaku most of all. Asura would _never_ openly admit it, but he truly appreciated having somewhat of a mother figure in his life, even if it was a fuzzy blue fur-ball of chakra.

" **Sometimes I wonder if that boy is insane, but then I remember he comes to** _ **balls of chakr**_ **a for psychological comfort and I** _ **know**_ **he is,"** remarked Gyuuki, the ox-octopus, or as Asura famously – or rather _in_ famously – dubbed him, 'The Amazing, But Completely Lame When it Comes to Master Plans, Oxtopus'.

The tailed beasts didn't exactly get along, and fought more often than not during waking hours, but the boy had a unique way of bringing them together.

* * *

 _ **Time skip - Seven Years Later**_

"Is there anything I can do for you, Tou-san? Water? Another pillow?" Asura asked his father, who now lay on a bed in the center their family cave, or more specifically, his deathbed.

He knew he couldn't live much longer naturally, and was strongly against prolonging his life with his use of Ninshu. He could, of course, do this extremely easily, but he would be forced into living forever. When his children tried to persuade him to use it, his response was always the same; that he "didn't want to lose his humanity". He was already considered a god amongst men, and had given the world a temporary state of peace and understanding through his teachings.

Asura had always understood and accepted his reasoning, he would do the same in his father's shoes. Indra and the tailed beasts had been a little bit more forceful, the latter complaining that he was leaving them to a life of forever and loneliness.

"No, no," he replied between coughs, "Thank you anyways though, Asura-kun," He shifted to a sitting position and gave both of his eldest children a serious look that they knew meant whatever he said next held great importance. "I need one of you to carry on my legacy and to be my successor of Ninshu, would either of you be willing to give up your life for this cause?" Both of his charges nodded eagerly and seriously after a few moments of thought. "Good. However, I will only choose one of you for this. Which one of you becomes my heir depends on your answers to my next question."

Asura looked uncertainly to his brother on his right, who was just looking at his father with his ever-stoic expression. He knew that Indra had always assumed he would get the position automatically, and if he was honest with himself, he had too. Asura had always been the more laid-back and emotional one, while his brother was constantly grooming himself for the day he carried his father's legacy. He turned back to his father, steeling his emotions and preparing himself for what came next.

"But Tou-san, I'm obviously the more capable of us two. It may seem arrogant, but Otouto doesn't have half of the natural talent or any special capabilities that I possess. What good would it be to choose someone like him with something that would only bring him down?" Indra had the decency to look a little guilty at his brother's hurt expression and his father's calculating stare. He knew his younger brother had problems with being unacknowledged, but this had to be done, and done correctly.

"I do see your point, Indra-kun, but I have thought long and hard on this already." He paused to take in his children's expressions and give them time to mull over his words. Indra looked confused, proud, apprehensive, confident, and stoic. Asura looked a little hurt, hopeful, trustful, and most of all, curious.

"What is the true key to peace?" This was an often disputed topic in the Ōtsutsuki household, and each knew what the others thought about it. Both men looked somewhat surprised at his choice of a question, why ask something with such an obvious answer? Hagoromo gave them a few seconds to gather themselves before gesturing to Indra to speak first.

"The key to peace is power. Only with power will people respect and fear you enough to obey the rules and cooperate under one common leader. It may be harsh, but having one common enemy is the most successful reason for people to band together, as it is engraved into our human mentality."

Asura waited for a few moments as he watched his father expectantly, waiting for his own cue. Hagoromo stared into space with his eyes glazed over and a pensive look on his face, then nodded to Asura. "The key to peace is love and understanding. We need to be empathetic and loving in order to understand where other people are coming from and work out our problems both efficiently peacefully." The sage once again looked off to nowhere for a while until turning back to Indra and Asura.

The brothers couldn't help but fidget under their father's calculating and powerful gaze.

Hagoromo sighed. "I have chosen. I hope you both respect my decision as my last wish and can accept it over time. Although both methods may strive to complete the same goal, the road along the way is what influenced my decision most. While one is more logical and requires much less work and time, the other will bring more happiness to this broken world. Asura-kun, I hereby request you be my successor. Use your empathy and compassion to share my Ninshu and bring peace to the world as you see fit."

Both brothers were convinced they heard that wrong, and even Indra's eyes widened comically at that.

"Indra, I need you to understand that while power is a necessity as well, understanding and acceptance is what makes a leader. I hope you will use such understanding to forgive me for taking this away from you, and that you will choose to help your brother along the way."

Indra's mind was in scattered shards. Why would his father choose his mess of a brother over him? What does Asura possibly have that he doesn't? It was his dream. His entire life was meant for this. Every thought he ever had, every move he ever made, was preparation for continuing his father's legacy and bringing peace to the world. He gave up his childhood, his personality, and his interests for this. He turned himself into the perfect soldier for this opportunity.

Asura and Hagoromo could only watch with trepidation as their family member's face displayed his inner turmoil. It wasn't often that Indra lost his stoic face, but when he did, its reason was either _deadly_ , or _hilarious_ – usually at his younger brother's expense. He stormed through emotions rapidly, making no attempt to conceal anything. Confusion, shock, denial, pain, frustration, denial, betrayal, and finally anger. Merciless, unrelenting, unforgiving, _anger_.

He _snapped._

The normal three-tomoe pattern in his eyes changed drastically, the black tomoe stretching into a swirling spiral shape.

"Amaterasu,"

Most would say this was a great moment in history, one to be celebrated and cherished, but others couldn't disagree more. It was the first time Ninshu was used for killing, and also the day Ninjutsu came into the world. In the cave hosting this epic event sat three men.

The youngest was Asura Ōtsutsuki. Born with no talent or special powers, he couldn't accomplish much on his own. Instead, he valued depending on and cooperating with the Bijuu and the people he met on his travels with his family. He was an easygoing, affable, compassionate, and empathetic spirit.

The second youngest was Indra Ōtsutsuki – a prodigy in every aspect of the word. Everyone expected great things from this man, and he was never one to disappoint. He understood his power was different and special, and was determined to use it to achieve his father's dream of peace. Indra was almost the polar opposite of his younger brother, but not always in a negative way. He was proud and independent, determined to walk his own path unaided. He had a pensive, determined, tactful, powerful, stoic, and slightly aloof personality.

The oldest and last - but certainly not least - was Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, father to both Indra and Asura. This man was known all across the nations by the moniker "The Sage of the Six Paths". He was exceptionally wise, patient, composed, and brought a great change and understanding to the world. He used the chakra given to him by his mother to create Ninshu, and sought peace above all. The sage loved all of his children equally and it tore him apart inside to have to choose one over the other.

In three extremely different but at the same time extremely similar minds, there was complete and utter emotional chaos.

One man broken, one man in denial, and one already dying man _literally_ burning alive. And people called them a _good_ family? Once upon a time they may have been, but at that moment they were anything but.

Asura could only watch in shock and horror as the man he looked up to most sent black flames of hell upon his second most adored. Indra's maniacal grin upon his usually royally stoic features made the room feel ten degrees colder by itself. It wasn't happening. It was all just a bad dream. It _couldn't_ be happening. At least, that's what they told themselves when the young men tried to make sense of the situation, regardless of the differences in their perspectives.

The younger brother opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. What would he say? What _could_ he say? 'Oh haha sorry Aniki, but Tou-san chose me... But I guess since you just killed him its proof he made the right choice anyways...?' Yeah, right. In the end, he could only manage to get out one intelligible word past his lips between sputtering.

" _S-stop_!" He bolted up from his kneeling position in front of his father and shook Indra's shoulders violently. Indra just batted the concerned limbs away like flies, using his superior Ninshu-enhanced strength. He rose to his feet slowly, but when he saw his Asura's flinch when he reached out to comfort his little brother, he was abruptly reminded of the fact that _he_ was the reason his brother needed the comfort in the first place. So instead he just stood there, staring at the only other living being in the cave with an expression not unlike one of someone had just seen a ghost. This went on for all of two minutes, neither of them moving an inch. Under normal circumstances, Asura would make some witty comment about Indra's 'inability to act human' to fill the awkward silence. But alas, these were certainly _not_ normal circumstances.

"Indra! M-make the flames go away! It's not too late to forgive and forget!" he all but pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears. Of course, what he said wasn't true in any way. The only other occupant of the cave had long since passed, leaving nothing more than a still-burning corpse, and the emotional scars were already etched permanently into their psyches like tattoos. Indra snapped out of his self-induced funk at hearing the desperation Asura's voice, and immediately turned on his heels. He had to get away... had to get away from everything.

"Wait! ...Come back soon so we can talk this out, will ya?" His efforts earned a pause in Indra's brisk escape, but nothing more. Watching his brother's form disappear into the waterfall, he would never see the lone tear mixed with blood gliding down from red-and-black eyes, nor the sad smile that graced normally unmoving lips. But at the same time, he would never forget the day his idol and most trusted sibling awoke and was chained to the later dubbed 'Curse of Hatred'.

When Indra exited from the cave and put on his emotional mask once again, the Bijuu, whom at the time had been waiting outside of the cave to congratulate whomever their father had chosen, looked to Indra with confusion and curiosity marring their features. Indra didn't bother respond to their unspoken question, instead choosing to quickly pack his things and flee into the darkness of the night.

The confused masses of chakra waited for what seemed like eternity until Asura came out, wearing the Sage's six-magatama neckless of his father on his collar. He held the famous shakujo and what fabric was left of the silky kimono in his shaking hands. His grief-stricken face only scared the already anxious Bijuu more.

" **Are you alright, Asura-kun? ...What happened? Indra just collected his things and ran... Has Tou-san made the decision?"** Questioned Kokuō, a horse-like creature with five tails and the head of a dolphin.

Asura couldn't hold it in any longer. He fell to his knees and sobbed and yelled and screamed for his father, for his brother, for his family until his throat and lungs burned. Understanding that they wouldn't be able to get any details of whatever happened, the Bijuu apprehensively and respectfully let him have some time to collect himself before questioning him again.

" **We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong, Asura,"** Kurama reasoned.

Holding his hands together try to stop their trembling, Asura halfheartedly collected himself and his rampaging emotions. He needed to be there for his other siblings, and he knew they would be there for him.

"T-t-tou-s-san made the d-decision," he finally croaked out.

As he recounted the day's events, he had to reason with the Bijuu to stop them from going after and killing Indra. They were fiercely loyal to Hagoromo and Asura, but their relationship with Indra had always a mutual tolerance, nothing more.

Asura made them all vow not to chase after the newly turned murderer, but the beasts made an unspoken pact to kill him with no mercy when given the chance.

Asura stayed at his family's home for a few months before coming to a decision. His resolve was simple, and he was ready to devote his life to his new purpose. He would find Indra, he would beat the shit out of Indra, and then he would use the space left open to knock some sense back into Indra. And he _would_ do it, he refused to die until he did.

* * *

Over the years, Asura came to realize just how unrealistic his dream truly was. The cycle of hatred was never ending. He would find Indra, they would fight, and Indra would run off again.

The world around them was changing quickly, and not at all for the better. He became bitter towards his relationship with his brother when he realized their fights were the catalyst to the world's changes. People who saw their epic battles were inspired to create their own techniques for fighting, and using Ninshu to understand each other was slowly realized to be nothing but a fool's dream. Of course, people still held the Sage of the Six Paths on a proverbial pedestal, but no longer for the right reasons. They worshipped him like a god, different groups and clans claiming he gave _them_ Ninjutsu specifically for _their_ world domination. This utterly sickened and disturbed Asura, but Indra was far too gone in the manipulation of both the Curse and Black Zetsu to care.

The Senju and Uchiha were later deemed the most powerful clans, being descendants of Asura and Indra respectively. After Asura and Indra were both old enough to have children and pass on their ideals to them, they were destined to meet once more.

* * *

Duck, block top right, kick, hand seals.

"Mercy? You'll give _me_ mercy? Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku (Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation)!"

Analyze, react, dodge, counter.

"Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)! Brother, do I look like I'm lying to you? It's almost as if you don't want my forgiveness. Yes, you did kill father. Yes, you have tried to kill me at _least_ 37 times now. And yes, I will give you my mercy."

Indra paused at that, giving his brother a look of uncertainty before taking off towards his brother in a harsh sprint across the newly barren landscape, the structure of his Complete Body Susanoo forming layer by layer. "I don't deserve your forgiveness or mercy. But if I'm going down, you're coming with me!"

Asura too began crossing the distance between them, calling upon his three-headed, six-armed battle avatar along the way. "You're supposed to be the smart one here! Would it be mercy still be mercy if it _were_ deserved? Please, just join me. We can restore this world to the way it was when father lived, but we have to do it together."

The time seemed to stretch into eternity as they came closer and closer, each pouring their remaining chakra into their most destructive and powerful techniques, hoping for a clean win. The last thing Asura would remember was the sight of his brother mouthing a word he would never forget.

The collision erased all signs of life within miles, but despite popular belief no human lives had been ended. The chakras of the legendary siblings had long since been strong enough to take a sentient form, strengthening their resolves and virtues, and thus refusing to die.

Millennium passed, countless wars were fought and the world brought about Shinobi. The Sage of the Six Paths became nothing more than a myth, his sons long forgotten and left to lie in the pages of history. Sometime along the way, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were brought to life. The almost mythically powerful chakras practically jumped at the opportunity – they would be able to fight once more. But even then the cycle did not end. Time moved onwards after their deaths and the world kept moving. Then came the day that the two were reborn once more. Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha came into being, and again Indra and Asura joined the living.

* * *

 _ **'Finally, he's using my chakra!'**_ Thought Kurama as his jailor fought a boy – or was it a girl? – on a bridge in Nami no Kuni (The Land of Waves).

Kurama had long since accepted his jailor's poor excuse of a mindscape, but that didn't mean he liked living behind bars and in a sewer. So when he got the opportunity to bring back an old friend who had the ability to change that, he took it without a second thought. Of course, this was only a side effect of his real reason for bringing back the sleeping man in front of him, his real justification wasn't nearly as selfish.

Outside of the seal was a young Naruto Uzumaki, seething with rage. He had just seen his opponent kill his best friend – and to top it off he felt it was his fault. He was just inches away from tearing said murderer's throat out with his newly formed claws when his body gave out from under him and hit the bridge with a 'thump'. After a few moments of confusion, he felt it. Or more specifically, _didn't_ feel it.

He was completely disoriented. Up, down, light, dark, hot, and cold were just words with no meaning to him now. What was it like to feel something? He couldn't even remember. After a few agonizingly long moments of confusion, it started.

The only thing he could feel or even think about was the painful contraction and expansion in his stomach, demanding his full attention and ending every thought process before it could finish. It stretched his very soul apart and tore him into an infinite number of pieces.

Right when he thought it was over with, an even worse feeling came over him. Naruto never was claustrophobic, but having a _thing_ pushed into where there's only room one soul was enough to make anyone's thoughts suicidal. The internal torment went on for what felt like years until he welcomed unconsciousness with open arms.

Memories and emotions of past lives flashed through his one mind, all fighting for dominance over the others. In the end, the more prominent chakra signature won the mental tug-of-war, and Asura's mind was quickly bombarded with foreign memories of a different very different life as Naruto Uzumaki, the village pariah. Even the mind of a man like Asura couldn't handle the sudden attack on his psych. In retaliation, his mind shut down his consciousness all together, leaving his subconscious to do the work for him.

* * *

"MmphmIndrastupidmhmmstupidwatermmgrmphthisclosehmmm–" Mumbled a very much asleep, and also very content to be so, Asura. Or was he Naruto? Asuruto?

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what's Naruto-baka mumbling about now? Can you hear it too, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn. I don't really care what the dobe mumbles about,"

"Naruto, were almost at the village gates. You're going to have to wake up to pass through the gate inspection," Kakashi shook his student, who was at the moment being carried firefighter style across his sensei's shoulder.

"Wha–AH! Ugh my head..." Asura rolled over to try find a better sleeping position, but was unpleasantly surprised when he rolled right off of into free fall. "Gah! Owww..." If his own personality crisis wasn't enough to confuse him, looking up and seeing three _very familiar_ yet complete strangers stop and stare at him certainly did the trick. "Who the hell are you? Did you do this to me?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes for a short moment, but it left his visage as quickly as it had appeared. His sensei's son had been mumbling strange things ever since he collapsed from chakra exhaustion on the bridge, and now he didn't know who his own team was? _'Not suspicious at all...'_ An eye smile and a deep chuckle only served to infuriate the mysterious boy more.

Realizing 'he was being a douche' wouldn't be a sufficient reason to tell his wife when she asked why he killed this random man, he resorted to his newfound memories with the hope that might have some sort of clue to what he was supposed to do in this impossible situation.

As he flicked through decades of memories in mere seconds, the corners of his lips curled into a wistful frown. Saying he was disappointed was like saying the Bijuu had a little more chakra than average. Nobody even knew what Ninshu was anymore – did they know about him and Indra? Why were his and Indra's descendants were still fighting, thousands of years later? And then the Bijuu... How could people treat his siblings like weapons of war? Shoving them into seals on people and calling the containers human sacrifices... and his new body was one of these 'jinchūriki' too! He'd have to go talk to Kurama about all of this as soon as possible – he was always good at making plans up on the spot. He mentally smirked. _'Not that his skills can hold a candle to_ my _master plans, though...'_

He did know one thing for sure though. His father obviously entrusted his legacy to him for a reason, so we would do his damned best to make him proud. The world was not going to continue down the spiral of corruption – not if the second son of the Sage of the Six Paths had anything to say about it.

The rest of team 7 watched the emotions cross his face bemusedly, since when had Naruto smirked? Or frowned, for that matter?

* * *

 **AN: r &r porfavor.**


	2. Adapting

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters from it... sigh. Re-read the prologue, I changed it a lot.**

* * *

 _Chapter 1 - Adapting_

When Kakashi had first been assigned to the ANBU squad protecting his late surrogate father's son, the brat's resemblance to his father and his mother's personality made guard duty almost physically painful. After the first fifteen day-long shifts or so, he learned to cope with it and deemed it worth the initial emotional toll when he got the chance know Naruto better than almost anybody, albeit from a more stalker-ish perspective.

Over the following few years, he learned a lot about his little blonde charge. Naruto was the kind of child who could lose infinitely to an opponent but still refuse to admit his inferiority. He was the kind who would shout and laugh and go completely giddy at the first sign of acknowledgement. But throughout his childhood, he had never persisted to create a bond with or be acknowledged by anyone as hard as he had with Sasuke.

So when the self-proclaimed future Hokage just replied to Sasuke's challenge – the Uchiha was probably just looking for amusement anyway – with a 'Tch' and waved his hand dismissively, it took all of Kakashi's hard earned reaction control to keep his eyes from bugging out of their sockets.

 _Since when would Naruto dismiss Sasuke's attention like an_ annoyance _?_

Asura, for one, was getting _extremely_ annoyed. He was probably being irrational – not that he usually wasn't, but he was tired of being the idiot. Even as Naruto he hadn't really been as dumb as he acted, but the idiotic behavior earned him the most attention. Factor in _Indra_ 's descendent using him as entertainment, and you have one very grumpy Ōtsutsuki. He had half a mind to completely drop the act and be done with it, but doing it too abruptly would undoubtedly raise questions – questions he wouldn't want to answer. But then again, couldn't he just erase or threaten any 'complications' that came his way? No, probably not, he was Naruto Uzumaki now. He would have to test his skill level out later when they got back to the village, maybe try some Senjutsu or Mokuton if his chakra control was up to par.

"Naruto-baka, are you sure you're alright?" Asura was surprised to see the barely concealed concern on Sakura's face when he looked up. She had always hated him, hadn't she? Why would she care? These people were confusing. And they talked funny – not that he hadn't adapted to the modern accent, but the dialect still felt foreign nonetheless.

"I'm fine. Thanks, Sakura-chan. I just hit my head pretty hard when I fell off of–" _cue death glare at Kakashi_ "– _his_ shoulders s'all." The accused only responded with a blasé eye-smile over the top of his little orange book, feigning disinterest.

Team 7 soon slipped back into silence, the village gates drawing nearer per each step. Kakashi stepped up to the gate guards' desk, leaving Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto to wait for their sensei.

The trip had taken way too long according to Asura, and he was fidgeting with anticipation. He couldn't wait to explore this "Hidden Village"! While he did have Naruto's memories of the place, the memories hadn't felt personal when he skimmed through them, more like reading a book of a book with a first-person perspective. So when the Jōnin provided their info to the security staff and reminded them of their next team meeting time, Asura was the first to depart. He quickly came to the conclusion that despite the evidence in his head, Konoha was a beautiful village, inside and out. The climate was warm, the evening streets bustling, and the buildings were so unlike any he had ever seen. He tried his best to ignore the glares along the way, (in the end he couldn't blame them, they really just didn't know any better), but they seemed to slip through the chinks of his emotional armor like water.

He did, however, much prefer the glares over when people blatantly ignored him. It really shouldn't have hurt so badly, Asura supposed, as he'd been on the receiving end of such behavior the entirety of his first childhood, but perhaps that was one of the major reasons it did.

His wandering feet subconsciously brought him to a training ground – training ground 7, if he remembered correctly. It was one of the training grounds Naruto's team occasionally met at, and was covered by a grassy clearing with a small pond off to the side. Asura looked up to the position of the sun, and deduced it was around six in the evening, leaving him with around three hours for using any potentially loud techniques, and four hours total.

Despite his temptation to try his most fun (read: destructive) techniques, he decided it would be best to start small and measure his amount of chakra and chakra control. He walked slowly to the small pond to the east of the clearing and placed a tentative shinobi sandal on the surface.

* * *

Six hours into training, and two hours later than Asura had planned to go home, the pseudo-blonde lay on the grass with his clothing drenched and muddy. The trees surrounding the clearing all looked like a dozen bulls head-butted them repeatedly, the pond was looking a little bit more like a puddle, and there were leaves strewn all across the plain. "Damn it! I can't even balance a stupid leaf on my head! Even _Naruto_ could walk on trees, and I'm _Asura_!"

Honestly, he really _did_ have the right to rant in this situation. From his perspective, he had been the second most powerful people in the world just three days ago, so not being able to hold a _leaf_ to his forehead with chakra was a bit degrading. After the first ten or so falls in the pond he had chalked it up to Kurama's influence, but that theory had been tossed in the bin when he remembered walking on trees as Naruto. Despite the fact that he had one of the best sources of information on anything chakra related stuffed in his belly, he would never give the fox something to gloat about if he could help it, and thus was adamant on figuring it out on his own.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden yawn, and it took him a moment to realize he was its source. Asura lifted his head up drearily to check the position of the sun, but the moon was only too willing to remind him the time to head back home was long passed. He rolled over onto his stomach, hunched himself up on his knees and elbows, and pushed himself up onto his feet.

When he stood, the mental strain of transcending coupled with the physical exhaustion from molding chakra for hours on end caught hit him like a freight train, and he stumbled over to the tree line, using whatever he could as a makeshift railing. His strategy didn't last long, as one of the thinner trees he leaned against turned out to be nothing more than a tall fern and he fell to the ground with a thud.

 _These leaves_ are _somewhat comfortable..._

He fell asleep not much later.

* * *

 _Drip... drip... drip..._

" **Finally. I don't suppose you came here for advice on your abysmal chakra control, hm?"**

Great. Asura would recognize that voice anywhere, but he _really_ wasn't in the mood for talking. Even if his physical body would still be getting sleep while he was in his mindscape, it would only be the equivalent of laying on a bed with his eyes open – not truly _asleep_. Considering this, he was much more in the mood for being knocked out with a Doton jutsu than making conversation with a giant fuzz ball.

Not that he had much of a choice, though, as said fuzz ball could keep him there as long as it pleased. He harrumphed and Kurama could swear he heard the man-turned-boy mutter something about callous foxes and his beauty sleep. Asura leaned back on his arms in a sitting position and gave the darkness behind the prison bars an expectant glare.

Kurama shifted closer the edge of the cage to get a better look at his sibling. " **I like the new look, Asura-chan!"** Asura was too tired to retort, and settled for a death glare, although it looked more like a childish pout on his new face. " **Not much for talking now, are we? If I can recall correctly you were usually the one wh–"**

Asura groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose exasperatedly (1). "Please just _let me sleep_! Can't we have this discussion tomorrow? I'm sure whoever or whatever brought my conscious to this time isn't as urgent as you're making it out to be."

" **Hn. Well I** _ **do**_ **know who brought you here, as I should, considering it was me."**

"You! You stupid, stupid, _stu_ –"

" **Hush now, little kit. Although, it does seem your vocabulary has diminished along with your brain size,"** Kurama smirked. " **I can assure you I have a completely valid reason for bringing you here, and you can probably even guess what it is from the memories you've received through the transcendence."**

"This world doesn't need me! Yes, the world needs an almost complete makeover, but you did not have to bring back somebody who died five thousand years ago!" he yelled. Asura wasn't exactly sad, per se, to have been given a new chance at life, but he did know that there was a certain balance and order to things, and revival was not part of it, be it through a reincarnation or not. "And you were supposed to be the smartest of us all..." he quipped almost silently – he certainly didn't want to get on the fox's bad side thirty seconds into the conversation, after all.

The concentrated chakra raised the muscle above it's right eye, emulating the expression of raising an eyebrow, albeit without the actual brow. " **Perhaps you are right. But what is done is done, and not to mention irreversible. Though the world may not need** _ **you**_ **, there's no disputing that it does need a hero or two. Plus, what real damage can your presence here do? You may disrupt the original 'plan' of the world, but you certainly won't change things for this worse... I hope."**

"Did you at least consult our other siblings before making such a radical decision?"

" **Well, no. We all aren't exactly on the best of terms right now, not to mention Shukaku has gone completely and utterly insane."**

"What of Indra? I'm assuming he also has a reincarnation, so will he remember too?"

" **Are you finally accepting your fate?"**

Asura was losing his patience, and losing it quickly. "Just answer the question, Kyūbi."

Kurama almost cringed at his name, the name that represented so well the violent and merciless creature he had become. Asura had only called him by that once before, and it was not a pleasant memory.

 _The forest was doused in flames of red the color of blood, a stark contrast against the pitch black blanket of the night. The small village in its center smelt of decay and destruction._

 _Despite the dismal conditions, however, Kurama was having the time of his life. He and the other tailed beasts had gone their separate ways a few years ago, and he had finally let his curiosity overcome him, venturing out of his cave to the nearest human population. He'd mostly wanted to see how they were carrying out his father's legacy, but was sorely disappointed when he saw the village being oppressed by a materialistic mayor who had no care for the general populace, and hired countless criminals and gangs to carry out his wishes._

 _The irony was not lost on him when he realized his little temper tantrum had nearly destroyed the civilian population and residency, while the government building had somehow survived the attack._

 _He strolled leisurely towards the edifice, a maniacal grin revealing his person-sized canines. He spotted a little white flash in his peripheral vision, but soon chalked it up to an explosion of some chemical or another and continued on his path._

 _At least, he would have, if he could. The fox inspected his body and surroundings for any possible barriers or restraints, but the only abnormality was a little white blob on his left paw._

" _Kyūbi_."

 _Kurama looked down circumspectly, and his eyes seemed to double in size when he recognized the white blob as his older brother, Asura. There was no anger in the human's countenance, no, that would have been much better. Instead there was only sheer disappointment, and Kurama felt like a kit being reprimanded by his father once more._

" _I expect you to leave this village_ right this instant _, and only return with intentions of begging for the people's forgiveness."_

" _ **Asura,"**_ _he growled back. "_ _ **Do you not see how corrupt this place is? I'm doing the world a favor by getting rid of it. I have yet to annihilate the source of this crookedness, so if you would please release me now I ca–"**_

" _You can what? Go kill more? Destroy more? You're better than this, Kurama. If you had only waited another couple of days,_ my _method would have been complete." At the fox's questioning frown, he continued. "Mhm. I've been working on this village for the past week or so, you know. A new leader would have been instated within a few days, too," he said with a solemn smile. "It's only too bad I was out of the area when you started your attack... But it didn't happen that way, so as soon as I let you move, you're going to run back to your cave with your tails between your legs, let me clean up your mess, and hope your leftovers can satisfy my anger."_

 _So Kurama did just that, although without his nine tails actually between his legs – that would be uncomfortable. He couldn't help but feel ashamed after being admonished like that by Asura, and wondered perhaps if it was hereditary_ (2).

 _Though he wouldn't realize it for another three hundred, years that was the day he truly began to respect Asura. It was also the day he learned to despise the name "Kyūbi._ "

Granted, Asura was probably just trying to sound menacing this time around, but the name still struck a chord or two in the old fox.

A blatantly fake cough from Asura roused him from his momentary flashback. " **Pardon, what'd you ask?"**

Asura rolled his eyes. "I wanted to know if you know anything about Indra in this time period."

" **Ah, yes, Indra. I've felt traces of his chakra when Naruto was fighting with his Uchiha teammate, Sasuke, and considering your past reincarnations' relationship, Sasuke is most likely Indra's reincarnation. I haven't any idea what affect your presence will have on–"**

"Hey, wait, 'past reincarnations'? Who else was I before now?"

" **Why you, Asura-** _ **chan**_ **, were the mighty Shodai Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and subduer of tailed beasts,"** the fox replied a bit angrily, muttering the last bit mostly to himself. He never really did like the First Hokage, but maybe that was just because the Senju's stupid wood techniques beat him in the Valley of the End fight...

Kurama watched as the blonde's face lit up like a Christmas tree and for once since the transcendence, the expression fit is new body like a glove. "Whoa. I am _so_ cool!" His happy dance was cut short when a look of realization and later confusion passed his face. "Having _those_ memories would be so useful right now... Hey, why don't I have those memories, Kurama?"

" **I really don't know for certain, but I would guess it has to do with the method in which I brought you here–"**

"Oh, right! How'd you bring me here again?"

" **I haven't told you yet–"**

"Ah."

"– **But I will if you stop interrupting me."**

"..."

" **Good. Now where was I? Oh, yes. I wasn't sure if it would work at first, but, well, here you are. I brought you here by shoving the residual chakra of our father left in me through the seal when Naruto subconsciously opened it a little bit with his emoti–"**

"Wait! You do realize that if your wacko theory didn't work out, you could have _killed me_?"

" **Well, I technically could've killed** _ **Naruto**_ **not–"**

"Honestly! What's it with you and 'technically'? I thought you already went through that phase, seriously," Asura couldn't help but make a jab at the Bijū whenever he went on about technicality, an old strategy the fox would use to get out of trouble with their father when he was a kit. The myth of foxes being cunning tricksters didn't come from nowhere, after all.

" **Would you** _ **stop interrupting me**_ **you** _ **insolent whelp**_ **!"**

"..."

" _ **Thank you**_ **. As I was saying, I shoved our father's chakra through the seal and hoped it would react with the traces of your own in Naruto's chakra coils. My guess is that father's chakra melded with your own and took over Naruto's body and mind. Since you're obviously the older of the two and have a much stronger chakra, when your memories were mixed together yours won out, giving you your personality and dominant memories. As Hashirama's only connection to the both of you is being your descendant and a reincarnation along with Naruto, his memories were left out of the party."**

Asura yawned as he pondered over the situation. "That... makes sense. Although I do I think that's all the information I can digest tonight, and I _really_ want to get to sleep."

Kurama smiled genuinely towards the already-half-asleep boy, although it didn't fit his face and ended up looking more like a homicidal grin. " **Goodnight, Asura."**

"Mm. 'Night Fuzz ball." Asura cut off the mental connection and vaguely sensed the odor of fallen leaves before falling asleep, hard, like the rock beside him.

* * *

When he next woke, he felt considerably less like he had just run a marathon or two. The first thing he noticed after he blinked the bleariness away from his eyes was a white ceiling – wait, ceiling? – and the smell of antibiotics.

 _Hospital, then._

Considering Asura was at least ninety-five percent sure he had fallen asleep in the forest aside Training Ground Seven, somebody must've found him and brought him here.

"You're awake, then?" asked a gruff voice to his left, breaking his train of thought (3). He chose not to get up and instead turned until he was laying on his side, facing the Sandaime Hokage.

"What're you doing here, Jiji? And what time is it? I need to meet the team at around–" he did the mental math for the meeting time, including Kakashi's lateness, "–ten o'clock."

The old man chuckled knowingly. "We need to figure out what's wrong with you before you can get back to your training, Naruto-kun."

 _Oh, right. Hospital._

'Naruto' sat up in the hospital bed and crossed his legs, propping his elbows on his knees and holding his chin in his hands. "Uh, yeah, about that, why _am_ I in a hospital, Jiji?"

"I was actually hoping you'd be able to shed some light to that. What's the last thing you can remember before waking up here?"

"Hm... Oh, right! I remember smelling leaves!" he replied, acting quite pleased with his ability to recall leaves, but in reality he was just happy to find a decent half-truth, as he had never had an affinity for lying.

"Leaves, hm? I suppose that would make sense. You didn't make it to the next two team meetings after coming back to Konoha, so I used my crystal ball to find you. It turns out you were in the middle of the forest by one of the training grounds, so I had Iruka fetch you and bring you here. You must've been really tired, Naruto, as you slept for nine days straight. Your doctor also reported a severe chakra infection, and your coils were nearly destroyed. I'm afraid your chakra will never be exactly the same – but that's not exactly a bad thing, either, you'll just have to retrain your body to control the new chakra."

Ah. That at least explains his nonexistent chakra control, but even if it was a completely new type of chakra, would it really be so hard to adapt to? It was probably the combination of Naruto's titanic chakra reserves and Asura's denser-than-gold chakra though, Asura supposed.

"Do you have any idea what may have caused this? You usually wake up after a day's rest, no matter what the injury," the Hokage continued.

Although Asura _did_ certainly have an idea of what caused it, he had no intentions of telling the other man as such, Hokage or no. Doing so would result in having to explain his entire reincarnation and transcendence situation, which would definitely land him a one way ticket to the psychic ward. So instead he decided to play innocent and avoid having to lie at all costs. His eyebrows shot up and he formed an 'o' with his mouth.

"Whoa! I've never ever, ever, ever, slept for eight whole days before! Why _do_ I always recover after one night anyways, Jiji?"

Despite his old age, Hiruzen Sarutobi's skill was nothing to laugh at, especially when it came to reading people. He could easily tell Naruto was avoiding talking about something, but the he also knew that the boy would always tell him something if it was truly important, so he let it slide. There was also little chance Naruto would know something about the incident, considering if the attacker was skilled enough to sedate a Jinchūriki for over a week and leave no trace, they were definitely capable of going unnoticed by a twelve year old Genin. "You heal exceptionally fast. It's an effect of having the Kyūbi inside of you, arguably the best effect, I might add."

"Awesome! So I could like grow back an arm or something -ttebayo!" Asura had been so caught up in the act of behaving like a child he was completely caught off guard by Naruto's, now his, verbal tic.

The Hokage must've seen his sudden change in mood as he asked, "What is it, Naruto-kun? Do you remember something?"

"No, Jiji! I just had a weird feeling of déjà vu s'all!" he responded quickly, albeit perhaps _too_ quickly.

Not that Asura noticed, he was too busy thanking Kami for his ability to come up with a quick excuse – a byproduct of getting caught pranking Indra and the tailed beasts a couple too many times. The Sandaime, however, _did_ notice the celerity of his explanation. Perhaps the little blonde did know something worth looking into. Regardless, the aged Sarutobi would be keeping an eye on him until the investigation was complete.

"Mm. I'll be going now – Hokage duties to attend to and all. Don't break out of the hospital too soon, alright?"

"Sure, Jiji," Asura replied with a lopsided grin as he watched the Sandaime leave his hospital room. As far as he was concerned, 'too soon' had passed five days ago, and he'd be escaping as soon as possible. Considering he had some planning and debating to do with a Bijū, his recovery could certainly wait.

* * *

 **Chapter Notes:**

(1) – Yes, according to an online thesaurus, "exasperatedly" _is_ a word.

(2) – Incase it wasn't clear enough – he wondered if the ability to make him feel like a child being reprimanded by their parent was hereditary, i.e. he wondered if Asura got it from the sage.

(3) – Breaking/braking and train of thought pun totally intended.

 **AN: First chapter out! I'll probably choose to start posting shorter chapters more frequently, as this one took wayyy longer than expected.**

 **Also - Thanks to Metronome I Hear for revising this chapter before I posted it! Go check out her profile and stories when you can, and I especially recommend her story Rebirth: Fire and Wood, which has a plot similar to this one.**


	3. Reuniting

AN: Readers, meet Indra. Indra, meet Readers.

* * *

 _Chapter 2 – Obliviously Reuniting_

Asura hadn't wasted any time after the Sandaime left, quickly gathering his things and changing into his eyesore of an outfit before escaping through the window and cutting across the side of the building using chakra. Well, that was the plan, at least. He remembered a few seconds too late just how poor his chakra control was and landed ungracefully in a nearby tree, but without grave injuries, thanks to his room's location on one of the lower levels of the hospital.

As picked himself up out of the myriad of branches and leaves that he'd taken down with him, his mind was already formulating plans and questions for his much needed talk with Kurama. He was truly hoping Kurama would find a way to gather the family for a kind of "Bijū seminar", but considering how the fox had described the recent family dynamic – not to mention Shukaku's insanity – it was extremely unlikely.

The villagers gave him a few questioning looks while he walked the streets towards his home, probably wondering what kind of fashion statement he was trying to make with stray twigs sticking out of his unruly hair, but the attention left almost as soon as it came. _Not that I care_ , he told himself.

His feet padded along the russet bricks of the road as he walked home, his head high and his eyes shining with determination and calculation that had no place on the face of a child.

About half of the way home, he picked up on the consistency of an extremely small chakra signature behind him, up, and a little to the left. He would've chalked it up to an ordinary civilian, Konohamaru, or one of Naruto's other little minions, if not for the fact that behind him and to the left stood a tall, dull looking building with the kanji for 'TORTURE AND INTERROGATION' plastered across the arch above the double-doored entrance, and cement bars as thick as himself covering the windows.

The only way a chakra signature would be coming from above that would be if it were a shinobi roof hopping – and therefore most likely trailing him, a theory which would explain the continued presence of the signature within his senses. Asura was overjoyed to see that at least some aspect of his previous life stayed with him through the millennia. Sensory techniques were mind-based and required one to have an innate affinity for them, and were something even the rare civilian could pick up with the little to no chakra control needed to do them. Since his mind was the only thing that came through the transcendence, it only made sense that skills relative to the brain were kept as well.

 _But who would be following me?_ The only people he could think of that he had interacted with since waking up as Naruto and were skilled enough to either follow him themselves so discreetly or send others to do it for them were Kakashi and the Sandaime. Apparently his innocent façade hadn't been nearly as airtight as he thought it was.

When he reached his shabby apartment and walked inside, the scent of rotten milk was so pungent he even coughed a couple of times. He would have to go into the market soon and get some new milk and food – something more nutritional than ramen, too.

 _And if I still had even one hundredth of my original awesomeness, I could go under a Henge and spend half the money Naruto usually did_.

He begrudgingly trotted the measly six feet from the entrance door to his bed and plopped down, but not before checking his bedside alarm to see how much time he would have to scheme–er, _plan_ , with his sibling before he would need to leave for his team meeting.

* * *

Kakashi was not _worried_ , a skilled Jōnin, student of the Yellow Flash, and ex-ANBU Captain did not _worry_. He was concerned. The Sandaime had briefed him of the details of Naruto's hospitalization and discharge, but none of it made sense. He'd seen enough of Naruto being sick on the trip back from wave to know illness was plausible, but that had passed within three days of sleep, and the Hokage seemed to believe this incident was caused by an outside force.

So Kakashi did what any ninja would do when confronted with something they didn't understand. He investigated.

He first started by perusing through the library, scouring for anything about infectious chakras and their side effects. After that provided no insight to the out-of-the-blue disease, he decided to go straight to the source – well, not really the source of the _chakra,_ but the source of the _problem –_ and started trailing Naruto.

While what he found didn't make his investigation any clearer – if anything, it made it more confusing, it was worth sacrificing his usual memorial stone visiting time. About ten minutes into his self-appointed mission, the blonde stopped momentarily, almost as if he'd just remembered something important. While most ninja would let something like this fly under their radar as unimportant, Kakashi was certainly not most ninja.

Kakashi caught the boy's eyes darting to the T&I department perched above, and a second later caught the glint of recognition as well.

 _Wait, what?_

How could a _Genin_ , a formerly dead-last at that, catch one of the villages best ninja's following them, _and_ then understand the situation?

Great. Another mystery to solve.

But he'd get his answers.

One way or another.

* * *

The villagers visibly cowed out of his way as the Last Uchiha prowled down the street, his 'this-isn't-even-worth-my-time-and-by-the-way-I-hate-you-all' scowl even deeper than usual. Much to his chagrin, a certain blonde Genin would _not_ get out of his head, and the fact that he was now thinking of not thinking of Naruto which in turn required thinking of Naruto was only making his mood darken by the second.

And why, you ask, was he thinking about the Uzumaki in the first place? For one, the blonde had been away from team meetings for the last week or so, and whenever Sasuke or Sakura asked their lazy Sensei where he was the Jōnin would only reply with something along the lines of "He's not feeling well right now" or "He'll be here next time"... but the last time Sasuke checked, Naruto had never been sick before the mission to Wave and even then he'd gotten better rather quickly.

Not to mention his one-eighty in behavior the last day they had seen him.

Things just didn't add up, so naturally Sasuke wanted answers. But he couldn't get them. And Sasuke was used to getting what he wanted.

And thus, the recipe for one grouchier-than-usual Uchiha with a side of mild obsession over a teammate was complete.

Sakura too to recognized his mood, and deemed it best not to approach him with her daily barrage of questions when he reached their meeting place of the day – Training Ground Four. It would most likely be another two or three hours until Kakashi showed up, so Sasuke opted to practice his kunai throwing on the nearby trees, while Sakura watched.

Sakura hadn't thought too much into Naruto's absence, not that she didn't care about him, she knew she did – not that she would trade their current relationship for anything else, but because she trusted Kakashi and the Hokage. The Hokage was Naruto's closest superior, so he had to be involved, she reasoned. Not to mention being Hokage most likely required one to be involved a little in almost everything going on in the shinobi aspect of the village.

The fact that she got to train alone with Sasuke may have influenced her opinion on the matter a _tiny_ bit though.

Two hours and thirty-seven minutes later found Sakura nodding off, propped up against the rock in the center of the clearing, and

Sasuke moving through his Uchiha Clan style katas.

"–akra exercises while they do other stuff?" came a high-pitched but boyish voice, if even a little raspy from the road, waking up Sakura and stopping Sasuke mid-kick. They would recognize that voice anywhere, how could they not?

"No, today we'll be doing teamwork drills and simulations before sparring,"

That was odd, though, Sasuke pondered. Why would Naruto be coming late with their sensei? Was he no longer sick? While the mention of teamwork drills almost immediately brought a frown to the Uchiha's face – well, more like a deeper frown than normal – the promise of sparring erased it just as fast. It wasn't exactly that Sasuke enjoyed beating Naruto and Sakura through violence – he wasn't naturally sadistic–

 _Like_ that _man_ , his mind reminded him.

–he had a deep set superiority complex, and loved being able to prove his number one spot on Team Seven was deserved.

"Yosh! First we'll be doing an exercise to improve both your teamwork and also your aim with kunai," Kakashi began to explain once they reached the pair in the clearing. He turned to Sasuke. "Since both you and Sakura have already stretched and warmed up, and Naruto did enough running with me earlier,–"

 _Must be an inside joke or something._ Sasuke inferred when Naruto turned to glare at Kakashi, who's mirth wasn't concealed by his mask by the least.

"–we can start right away," he reasoned.

Pushing his students towards the left of the clearing, near the kunai and shuriken targets, he pointed to the center target. "See that target in the middle?" At their nods he handed Sasuke and Naruto both four kunai, and Sakura four shuriken. "Right. Sasuke and Naruto get four kunai, and you, Sakura, get four shuriken. The goal of this exercise is to land a shuriken in the bullseye with a kunai from both Sasuke and Naruto pinned through the center hole of the shuriken.

"As you can imagine, this requires Sakura to throw the shuriken past both of you, and for you boys to throw your kunai precisely into its middle, guiding and pinning it to the target. The main obstacle you'll have to face is throwing in tandem, and not hitting each other's kunai in a manner that would change its trajectory, and Sakura'll have to throw at a reasonable speed."

Asura mentally cheered. _Finally, something physical I can still do well._ During his first training session, he'd learned that while his taijutsu was almost as terrible as Naruto's due to his new body size, his muscle memory for smaller movements like throwing kunai and writing still fit well.

Sakura, meanwhile, was getting nervous. What if it didn't hit and Sasuke blamed her for it? She was always mediocre at best with weaponry during the academy, after all.

Sasuke just hoped his team wouldn't ruin things for him.

"Understood? Alright! Sakura, throw whenever you're ready."

Sakura bent her knees and arms to get more power into the throw, took three deep breaths, and released the weapon. It flew faster than she had expected, but the mistake wasn't big enough to ruin the whole exercise.

A second later, the shuriken was pinned an inch to the right of the bullseye, with one kunai through its middle, and the other kunai planted on the bullseye.

" _Teme_!" Naruto hissed. "You threw it too soon!"

Sasuke scowled. "Hn. You just need to keep up, Usuratonkachi."

"No, obviously _you_ need to slow down! If you'd waited, your kunai wouldn't be to the right of the bullseye!"

"Hn. The force of the air off of your kunai must've changed the path of my kunai. That's the only reason it didn't hit the center!"

Sure, it was an absolutely ridiculous excuse, but Sasuke was _not_ about to let the blonde out do him. He felt somewhat proud of his quick reasoning when he saw Naruto's eyebrows knit together in confusion. That is, until said Genin burst out in laughter.

Asura, for one, was having a blast. Sasuke was so much like Indra! The only difference – and if you asked Asura, the best part, was that he could even beat the kid at something and smother it in the his face, and even be in character! Sasuke even used completely unrealistic excuses like Indra had when he would lose one of their games as children.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was furious. How dare the Dobe laugh at him? He'd show Naruto!

So he did what any twelve-year-old would do in his current situation. He punched him. Naruto was surprisingly hard to knock over, and only stumbled a few feet back before retaliating with a punch of his own.

Well, he almost did, until Kakashi Shunshin-ed in and grabbed them both by the back of their collars, separating them and earning an undignified squeak from the blonde and a grunt from Sasuke. "Now, now, my cute little Genin! This is supposed to be a _team effort._ I have an idea, how about we get straight to sparring so you can work out your little hormonal frustrations, ne?" the Jōnin snickered.

That helped lighten Sasuke's mood, but only fueled his fire against his teammate. Asura was somewhat conflicted though. While he did need to practice using his new body in his taijutsu style and he did want to see Sasuke's skill through his own eyes, he was pretty sure he would lose. And he'd had enough losing for one life, let alone two. After careful contemplation, he nodded, walked a few yards past Sasuke, and got into his taijutsu stance.

A couple of eyebrows were raised at his unusual and seemingly weak positioning, but Sasuke could care less what Naruto tried, as long as he won in the end. Sasuke got into his Uchiha Interceptor Fist stance, Kakashi blew a whistle – where he got it they had no idea – and Naruto lunged.

The corner of Sasuke's lips twitched upwards. _Hn. He really hasn't changed so much, huh?_ Naruto aimed for a punch to the left of Sasuke's face, but overshot and landed on his back from a kick to his legs for his mistake. Unfortunately, his chin had hit a stone on the ground when he fell, and could taste the blood from his bitten tongue on his lips.

Now Asura was getting annoyed.

Naruto rolled on to his back and flipped back up, using his momentum to collide his fist with Sasuke's stomach. The blow hit, and Sasuke grunted before jumping back a few feet.

Sasuke grimaced. _That punch was way harder than they used to be, maybe Naruto'd been training lately? No, he was supposedly sick._ Another _thing that doesn't add up_.

Now Sasuke was getting annoyed.

This time, it was him who struck first, spinning on his left foot and using his right leg to aim a high kick at the blond's head. The blow hit, just as planned, but once again the returning force was slightly stronger than usual.

Naruto, growling through the pain of being hurt in the head twice in a row, grabbed the leg that was just starting to retract from its striking point, pinned it to his head with his arms, and spun. Granted, it was a very unorthodox move and made up on the spot, but it still had the desired effect. Sasuke was thrown off to the side, tumbling until landing on his side a few feet away. Asura smirked.

Now Sasuke was furious. The formerly-dead-last was _actually_ somewhat challenging him, and the blonde's 'bet'cha-didn't-see-that-one-comin'' smirk only made it that much worse. Before the incident in Nami no Kuni Naruto had never put up much of a fight. Naruto had never smirked. Seeing the one constant throughout his childhood – Naruto, change, was not on his agenda.

Despite the taijutsu-only rules of the spar, he grabbed a kunai from its holster on his left leg. Taijutsu used kunai after all, right? Sasuke dived towards Naruto once again, aiming for his left leg – he didn't actually want to hurt him severely, contrary to popular belief.

Asura, seeing the kunai heading for his leg, immediately reinforced the skin with an enormous amount of chakra, a hard earned reflex from countless battles against more dangerous weapons – like the sword of Susano'o for example.

Asura could instantly tell he'd used _way_ too much chakra, well, everyone could. The area of fabric covering his leg practically glowed blue. Not that big of a deal, at least until Sasuke's kunai glowed blue too. Even that wasn't too extreme. The bad part was when Sasuke's hand and wrist started to glow a reddish violet. Reddish violet had never been associated with good memories for Asura.

He scowled. _Of course it had to be a chakra conducting kunai._

The trance of shock was broken when Sasuke dropped to the ground abruptly, not unlike a stone plopping into water.

The whole battle had lasted not thirty seconds, but would affect the shinobi world for nothing less than eternity.

* * *

Indra awoke to the smell of prunes and cucumbers, an awful combination if you asked him. He opened his ey– _wait_.

 _I don't_ smell _. I don't_ open my eyes _. I'm dead. What the hell. I'm_ dead _... Is this hell? Well, that would explain the horrible smell._

Despite being convinced of his mortality, he sat up faster than any human, dead or alive, should. At least, that's what the pain in his head told him. With a grunt, he propped his head back up and scanned the room.

The white walls and the bed he lay on lead him to the conclusion that he was in a hospital.

"Near the elderly ward, if the smell is anything to go by," he muttered under his breath.

So he wasn't in hell, then.

A movement to his right brought his gaze to a mop of pink hair– _pink hair?_ –on a girl no older than thirteen, staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. _Sakura._ His mind supplied. How did he know her name? Mulling over the thought, he noticed the lack of The Voice inside his head.

 _Gee, that guy had issues_ , he thought dryly.

About the voice in his head.

Considering his last memory – fighting with Asura – it couldn't be genjutsu. Asura had always sucked at genjutsu, saying it was too 'complicated and pretty'. Ouch. Without The Voice in his mind, corrupting his thoughts and emotions, that thought was painful. But he'd have a regret party later – he had yet to figure out where he was, after all.

Turning to the girl, Sakura, he decided to be blunt. "What's going on, Sakura-chan?" The girl's face turned a bright shade of red without delay, and he chalked it up to her being one of those girls who dislike being referred to as -chan.

"I-I... I mean, we're in the hospital, Sasuke-kun. Do you not remember what happened?" she asked, tears brimming the edges of her emerald green eyes, from what emotion he had no idea. He never was much of a social person. He grimaced, that had always been Asura's job.

The girl seemed to know him, and called him Sasuke, so he decided he'd go along with it, if only to humor himself before inevitably being sent wherever dead murderers like him went when they died.

He shook his head in reply. "So, uh, what happened, then?"

If there was a reaction he was expecting, the one he got certainly wasn't it. Sakura nearly tackled him into the hospital bed – an action that only worsened his headache. The dampness of the hospital gown on his shoulder told him she was crying, confusing him even more. Between sniffles he made out the words spar, naruto, and coma. He could see the connection between spar and coma, but a ramen topping?

She suddenly snapped out of her emotional breakdown, standing up and staring up at him with her mouth slightly agape, eyes wide, and pink eyebrows furrowed. "Sasuke... What's going on with your eyes?" she asked cautiously.

"Huh? Sakura-chan, what about the princess' eyes?" Came a voice from the door opposite the bed, a voice much to loud and cheery for Indra's tastes. He looked up to the owner of said voice, and locked gaze with the bluest eyes he'd ever seen – and that was saying a lot, considering he remembered practically every eye color he'd met.

The eye's owner immediately froze upon the eye contact, dropping the paper plate of jello and cut up apples he'd been carrying from the hospital cafeteria. The fall was rather anticlimactic, though, as the food splayed across the white tiles and the plate landed with a soft 'smack'.

Indra looked up again at the boy, raising his eyebrows at the uncomfortable stare.

Then, also quite anticlimactically, the boy fainted.

* * *

AN: Please review! Even just a caveman sentence like "story good." makes me so happy. Not to mention, reviews inspire me to write faster~!

P.S. don't just write "story good" because I specifically chose that as an example. Actually, whatever. This P.S. will probably just make more people do it.


	4. Reminiscing

_Chapter 3 - Reminiscing_

Most life-changing events don't come with warning label, much less an instruction manual. Ask Asura, for example.

The day had started off like any other since Sasuke's fall.

* * *

Naruto awoke to the chime of his alarm, unexpected as it was. He'd fallen asleep to the sounds of the heart monitor in Sasuke's room the night prior, so Kakashi held the position of prime suspect for his sudden displacement. Propping himself on his elbows, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and squinted at the calendar. The latest red 'X' crossed the twenty-fifth of July, much like the rest of the other days of the month. One particular box stood out, however, with a stick figure drawing of Team Seven around a colorful circle (read: cake).

Naruto had never claimed to have been the most artistic person he knew.

The special box was the twenty-third of July, Sasuke's birthday. Although the birthday boy had been asleep throughout the celebration, the rest of Team Seven was happy to eat his share of cake for him.

Crawling out of the pilling fabric of his cotton blanket, he padded along the wooden boards of his rundown apartment towards the closet. He opted to wear a set of navy blue standard issue shinobi pants, a black jacket, and an orange T-shirt underneath. He could instantly feel Kurama's amusement at his particular color choice, but brushed it off just as quickly. In the past few days he'd gotten more used to having Naruto's personality shining through his own every now and then, and even started to identify himself as 'Naruto' in his subconscious.

He left his apartment briskly, excited not for the many D-rank missions his sensei would surely try to dump on him and his bubblegum haired teammate, but because Kurama expected Sasuke to wake up soon. Reaching the hospital in record time, he was directed for the umpteenth time towards room 207.

Sakura shot up from her position beside Sasuke's hospital bed, walking over towards Naruto with a look that reminded him of the times he'd been caught mid-prank by Iruka-sensei. "Oh, Naruto! You're here!" she began sweetly. " _Early_?"

"Gee, Sakura-chan, can't a guy be on time to see his hospitalized teammate without being hounded on?" was the flippant reply. Sakura's eyes briefly glimmered with disbelief before her suspicion fell, and she moved to sit beside Naruto on the chairs to the right of the bed.

After an unfruitful couple of minutes waiting for Sasuke to wake up, Naruto decided to use the time to refine his chakra control. He walked over to the assortment of pamphlets describing an assortment of different diseases on the wall. Grabbing the one about chakra exhaustion, he ripped a square of paper off, placed it on the back of his hand, and flipped his hands so they faced palm-side-up. Immediately, the piece drifted to the floor and Naruto furrowed his brows. Going through the motions a few more times, he gradually got better at keeping the paper from falling.

Snoring from the corner broke his concentration during his thirteenth attempt. Sakura had entertained the idea of joining whatever idiotic scheme Naruto was doing with the hospital pamphlets, but instead took a leaf from a certain pineapple and deemed a nap more important.

The next two hours passed along to the same tune, a nurse coming in every forty-five minutes to check on the patient. A sleepy and disoriented Sakura looked up to the sound of the door opening once more, but unlike before, it was their sensei who stepped through the doorway. She yawned and stretched limbs, while Naruto continued with his paper fascination. The boy had a semblance of unawareness, though any shinobi worth his salt would be able to recognize the twitch of his fingers and tightening of muscles in his back and deem such an assumption null. With his signature eye-smile securely in place, Kakashi waltzed over to Sakura and Naruto.

"What'll it be today? Babysitting? Capturing Tora? Painting fences?" he asked in a jovial tone, setting his hand on the blond's head.

Finally addressing the jōnin's presence, Naruto looked up with a deadpan expression, left eyebrow twitching erratically. "Ne, Sensei. Can't babysitting Sasuke count as a full-day D-rank mission?"

Kakashi brought his hand's ghosted over the mask on his chin, contemplating the idea. "I suppose I could propose the idea to Hokage-sama. Are you _sure_ you two would rather stay here instead of feeding little Akari-chan?" he finally replied, chuckling at the horror passing over his students' faces at his mention of their most recent babysitting mission.

"I think it's in everyone's best interests that Naruto isn't put in charge of a child ever again, Sensei," Sakura responded, glancing at the accused uncertainly.

"C'mon, I'm not _that_ bad at preparing food, right Sensei?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to side with Sakura on this one, Naruto," he sighed. "Speaking of food, you two should grab a bite to eat while I go mention our new mission to Hokage-sama. Ja ne!" Kakashi saluted, opening the nearest window and jumping from the sill.

Sakura half expected to be bombarded with requests for a date at a certain ramen stand, but deemed it unlikely a second later, remembering Naruto's personality shift. It stung, a little, that the person she could always count on to praise the ground she walked upon had moved on, but she supposed it was for the best.

"I'll have a bowl of ra–" he began, before being whopped on the back of the head by a deceivingly dainty hand.

That wasn't to say his new personality didn't have it's own faults either, though.

"I am _not_ your personal servant, Naruto," she hissed through a sickly sweet smile. "But since you've so kindly offered, I'd like a turkey sandwich, an apple, and a water."

Grumbling something about bubblegum haired hypocrites, he sauntered over to the door, countenance uncharacteristically surly. "Aight, Sakura-sama, you got it," he replied as he stopped at the doorway, turning his head back to the kunoichi. "I heard the hospital's got a one day special on jello, y'know. You wanna split some?"

"Mmhmm," she responded absentmindedly, picking up and tossing the scraps of ripped pamphlet left on the floor.

* * *

After paying double price for the hospital food, he set off once more to the room.

"Sasuke... What's going on with your eyes?" he heard from outside the door, the words freezing him mid-step. Naruto–well, Asura, understood from personal experience that anything _going on_ with the eyes of a bearer of the sharingan was _not_ a good sign.

Ignoring the gnawing dread pouring into his stomach, he mustered up a veneer of his usual exuberance and carefree attitude and stepped through the doorway. "Huh? Sakura-chan, what about the princess' eyes?"

Only to lock gazes with a pattern of red and black he would give anything to both see once more and at the same time never see again.

 _Indra._

x

 _In the forest by the waterfall._

 _"Ne, Aniki! I can balance a leaf on my forehead now! That means I'm gonna be even cooler than you soon!"_

 _"Alright, Asura-chan."_

 _"Hey, I'm five years old as of today, mister! You can't call me_ chan _anymore!"_

 _"_ Alright _, Asura."_

x

 _In the family cave._

 _"Aniki~! Stop meddling with my fun! I was_ this _close to making Kurama's fur white for a whole_ week _! Then his bunny ears would actually fit with the rest of 'im!"_

 _"I'm sure you were, Asura. But you need to train more. How are you ever to be as strong as T_ _ou_ _-san or I if you waste your time with nonsensical pastimes like pranking?"_

 _"Mm, I think you need to lighten up. Why don't you come play in the waterfall with me before lunch?"_

 _"Sorry, Otouto. I need to get back to tra_ _i–"_

 _"Why?"_

 _"...Why what?"_

 _"Why is it always training, training,_ training _, with you, Indra? You're only twelve, I'm only nine, were children! Children are supposed to have fun!"_

 _"I suppose you heard that from Tou-san, then."_

 _"Well yeah, but_ _–"_

 _"Do..."_

 _"..."_

 _"Do you really want to know why I do what I do?"_

 _"Of course."_

 _"Have you ever felt like_ _–like you have a destiny? A fate, a role with no understudy in the play of life?"_

 _"No. I can't say I have."_

 _"Boys~! It's time to eat! Well, it would be if you two had actually caught our food instead of sitting around like a couple of lazy bums! Well? Get to it!"_

x

 _In a newly-formed desert_ _– courtesy of the lands two most powerful shinobi_ _, also formerly known as the Land of Plains._

 _"Hey, Indra. How did you of all people manage to have children?"_

 _"Do I_ really _need to explain the mechanics to you again? I felt last time would be more than informational enough to sate your curiosity."_

 _"No, no! Not again! I just think it's funny s'all. I mean, who would've ever thought the great Ice-Princess himself would be capable of love?"_

 _"You're wrong, you know. I did not marry nor procreate for the sake of 'love.'"_

 _"...Hey, Indra."_

 _"Yes, Otouto?"_

 _"You say you don't love your wife... did you ever love me and Tou-san?"_

 _"No."_

 _"You should know better than to lie to your brother, y'know. Who are you trying to convince? Me? Father? Yourself?"_

x

 _At the Final Battlefield. Would later be coincidentally_ _– or fatefully known as the Valley of the End._

 _"Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)! Brother, do I look like I'm lying to you? It's almost as if you don't want my forgiveness. Yes, you did kill father. Yes, you have tried to kill me at least 37 times now. And yes, I will give you my mercy."_

 _"I don't deserve your forgiveness or mercy. But if I'm going down, you're coming with me!"_

 _"You're supposed to be the smart one here! Would it be mercy still be mercy if it were deserved? Please, just join me. We can restore this world to the way it was when father lived, but we have to do it together."_

 _"Together."_

* * *

Waking up on the hospital floor was surprisingly pleasant. Well, pleasant compared to reliving a gruesome death for the sixteenth time.

Opening and blinking the blurriness from his eyes, Naruto lifted himself into a sitting position and leaned back on his palms. Recognizing the ebony spikes from his position below the hospital bed, he half expected to find the same Mangekyō again, but was relieved to meet the usual coal black.

"Naruto? Are you alright? What happened?" came a frantic voice to his right. He turned to see Sakura, eyes wide and worry-lines creasing her forehead.

"I'm ok, Sakura. How long was I out?" Naruto said as he stood up briskly, smiling brightly in an attempt to conceal his unease at Sasuke's intimidating and calculating gaze.

Sakura rushed over to him at once, grabbing his forearms and guiding him to one of the chairs. "Twenty, thirty seconds at most. Are you sure you don't want to lay down or something?"

"No, no. I'm fine now. I think I'll head home and rest now, though. Can you tell Sensei what happened when he comes back?" he responded a bit hurriedly, stealing glances at his enigma of a teammate on his escape. The door shut behind him harder than intended, and he got a few suspicious looks from the nearby civilians. He slid down with his back on the door and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hand.

His shoulders shook as silent tears polished his cheeks, and mangled sob of his brother's name escaped though the fraying reins of his emotional control.

"It was probably just a hallucination, anyway," he sighed, getting up and heading home once more.

* * *

The hospital room was eerily quiet after the blonde boy, Naruto, closed the door. Indra was so used to it, he almost missed how the furtive glances the boy had been sending his way and his suspiciously skittish behavior.

While Indra could already tell his chakra control was shot to hell, he could also tell his senses hadn't dulled much at all. The slam of the door had been loud, but not shouldn't have been loud enough to make him flinch. The five senses – six, including chakra sensory – were much like chakra in the sense of control. Without his previous control, Indra's senses were stuck at an extreme level, a blessing and a curse.

"Ne, Sasuke, what do you think's going on with Naruto since that first day back from Wave?" Ouch, _way_ too loud and shrill.

"No idea. How long was I out for?" Indra broke the silence first, voice raspy from thirst and unuse.

She counted her fingers before turning to him and replying, "Nine days if you count the first half of today, eight if you–"

He heard a muffled sound from behind the door, and his curiosity was immediately piqued.

He turned to the girl leaning a little bit too closely for comfort with his index finger to his lips. "Shh."

He leaned forward in his sitting position and honed in on the sound outside of the room. He heard a couple sniffles and what sounded like his name, a coincidence that would be much too coincidental for his liking if not for the fact that it sounded like it came from the mouth of a dying monkey. They wouldn't have dying monkeys in a human hospital in this world, right?

"It was probably just a hallucination, anyway." Well, that crossed coincidental dying monkey off of the possibility list. But what were the chances of his new "teammate" randomly blurting out his name after seeing him and probably his sharingan, if the girl's words had been anything to go by, and then summing it all up with "It was probably a hallucination"? It just didn't make sense. And Sasuke didn't like when things didn't make sense.

He shook his head as to clear the stray thoughts form his mind. _Did I really just refer to myself as 'Sasuke'? Kami, I'm messed up._

"Ugh, don't you start acting weird on me too! I'm gonna go tell Sensei about Naruto," Sakura's voice pulled him from his musings, and he turned to see her picking up her things and heading for the door.

"Wait! Sakura!"

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?"

"Can you keep what happened with my eyes today between us?...For me?" She seemed uneasy at the unusual request at first, but he knew he had her with the personal touch at the end.

"Mm, I guess I can," she finally replied, pretending to zip her lips like a zipper. "See you, Sasuke-kun!" she added over her shoulder on the way out, long, bubblegum hair following behind.

"Bye," came his reply, some thirty seconds late. Only some ten minutes after awakening in this new world and he'd been shocked nearly speechless.

 _This should be... interesting._

* * *

The Sandaime looked up from the paper with apprehension, though with a mask of calm indifference upon his visage. "Kakashi?"

The Hatake stepped forward dutifully, eyes set dead forward and tone terse and formal. "I nominate my genin Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki for these Chūnin Exams, Hokage-sama."

The old man blew the spicy-sweet smoke resignedly. Though he wanted more than anything to hold Naruto within the village walls and keep him safe at every turn, the boy was destined to move forward at some point. "Very well."

Hundreds of kunai were instantly poised to strike when a brown and green blur sped through the crowd, but put back just as fast when said blur was recognized as academy teacher Iruka Umino. Panting and arms waving around frantically, he stepped forward and shouted, "Wait! _Hokage-sama_! Naru – I mean those three – are not ready to take such big risks and responsibility! As their academy Sensei, I strongly advise they wait another six months at the _least_!"

Kakashi too stepped forward, although much more intimidatingly than his predecessor. "Iruka, let's get one thing straight here. _My_ Genin are not your students anymore. They became my _soldiers_ the instant they joined Team Seven," he growled. His superior height was prevalent when he stood face to face with the pineapple haired Chūnin, realeasing just enough killing intent to show he meant business. "Understand?"

"Hokage-sa–" Iruka started determinedly, but was cut off abruptly by the commanding voice of the Sandaime.

"Iruka." The sensei cowered imperceptibly and looked to the blank wall to his left, refusing to meet the Hokage's eyes, not unlike a child being reprimanded of a parent. "Kakashi-kun is right. They are no longer your students, and if he deems them ready for the trials, then so be it. I will hear no more of this. Kurenai?"

The next jounin stepped forward. "Hai, Hokage-sama. I nominate my genin..."

* * *

" _So_ glad you could join us, _Sensei_ ," Sasuke spoke as the infamous copy-nin trudged up the prickly green hill to their determined meeting spot of the day, a bridge between the civilian residency and a jounin training ground.

"Who are you and what have you done with my cute little Uchiha?" Indra couldn't help but think even his teammates could hear his pounding heartbeat. Meanwhile, Sakura and Naruto eyed their teammate suspiciously; Sasuke _never_ showed so much emotion from Kakashi's snide remarks, and would likely forgive Itachi before showing _fear_.

"Ehehe~, it was only a joke, dear Sasuke. I was just surprised that you called me 'Sensei' for the first time instead of 'Kakashi', not that I don't feel honored by the change," the jounin said with his signature crinkled eye, quickly appeasing Sasuke's deer-caught-in-the-headlights fright.

Kakashi, however, was not appeased in the least. While his genin had certainly stopped being nearly as boring as he'd predicted they'd be, he was getting tired of their constantly enigmatic changes in behavior. On the plus side, this particular incident would fill up more of his weekly three page report to the Sandaime on team 7, something the old man had ordered shortly after Team Seven's first comatose.

"Well, anyway," he began again, "I've brought you each a present today!" If he'd had was any doubt that the young shinobi were excited–not that there was, it was quickly squashed by all of their, yes, even Sasuke's, eyes immediately brightening with curiosity and excitement–although mostly curiosity. Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, Naruto was practically bouncing in place. He handed them each a brochure and waited for their reactions patiently.

Unsurprisingly, it was Naruto who asked first, a pitifully disappointed look upon his whiskered face. "'Chūnin Exams,' Sensei? I thought we just all got promoted together or something like we did from the academy."

"No, no, this is _much_ better," he responded cryptically, and Naruto and Sakura recognized that devilish angle of his eye crinkle well enough to know whatever was to come did _not_ bode well for them. Sasuke was as impassive as ever. "Ask your parents–er, ask the your parents or the Hokage to sign these for you and you can participate! Remember," he began, looking at Sakura less than discreetly, "none of you _need_ to do this now, and seeing as there is a risk of death, your teammates won't blame you if you feel unprepared. We can always try again in six months or a year, but then it'll be held in a different village, so this is most convenient. We don't have training today, so each of you should take some time to think about it. Ja, ne!" The jōnin said before mock saluting and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

The genin sat in silent contemplation for a few moments before Naruto and Sasuke got up at the same time, Sakura trailing behind. They split up after reaching the intersection from the main road to the bridge and another road, Sasuke going left, Naruto straight, and Sakura left.

Continuing home along the orangey gravel pathway, Indra was a little confused – and rightfully so. While most of the tablet was completely false information and propaganda made by some wacko, he'd gotten enough information from it he'd found beneath his new home to realize that he was not in a different world, but thousands of years in the future, and that people had corrupted his father's teachings and Ninshū into jutsu and shinobi – something he partially blamed himself and Asura for.

He also understood enough about how things worked in the village to understand that he was a genin and the white haired man was his sensei, and Sakura told him when and where to meet most of the time. Luckily, his body's old personality was similar enough to his old one that he didn't have to act very much, but being on the bottom of the shinobi food chain still didn't sit well with him. He was adjusting slowly, but his issues with authority affected his life much more severely now that he could no longer boss around whoever he wished – other than Asura, that is.

The night of the day he'd woken up he'd thought long and hard – a luxury of not having a phsycotic voice whispering in your ear every couple of seconds – about his past life's actions and decisions. He sorely regretted killing Asura, his father, and himself, and decided to use his new chance at life to right the wrongs of the new 'shinobi' world and himself. He was by no means planning on being a hero – no, he was way too far gone to be the good guy. He'd do things the same violent ways as before, but with a new goal in mind.

A high pitched yelp to his right yanked him from his musings, and he turned to see a small boy being dangled by the neck by a young boy with purple – _is that makeup?_ – and a black jacket. Next to them was another young shinobi, a blonde girl with four buns and a large fan strapped to her back. Indra recognized their foreign headbands as being from Suna, and chalked it up to them coming to participate in the Chūnin Exams.

Just being the great person he naturally was – _yeah, right._ – he slowly walked over to investigate, and _maybe_ help the boy. Only because he reminded him uncomfortably of when he teased Asura during their childhood. Perched in a tree above the scene, he waited for the right time to intervene.

Another person approached the group, and his eyes widened a fraction of an inch. While his blonde teammate, Naruto, had a heated altercation with the boy with purple makeup, he felt shift in the branches to his right, and mentally cursed his lack of chakra sensitivity. Turning to the sound, he was greeted by an auburn haired boy with eyes clouded with insanity, something he recognized instantly – he'd seen it in his reflection for years, after all.

Upon seeing Naruto, the redhead immediately gripped his head with his hands and screamed. The sound was a mixture of rage and anguish, and trailed off into a guttural, melancholic moan. The youngest boy had been dropped from the Suna-nin's grip and was now hiding behind Naruto, who himself held a look of horror, pain, pity, and empathy.

"Mother wants your blood!" the redhead screamed, lunging from the tree and diving directly for Naruto. He stopped abruptly, though, when the blonde bent over and bursted out in loud, carefree guffaws.

"M-m-mother?" he giggled, drawing curious looks from all onlookers. "That–" a couple more giggles, "eheh sorry. Phew, okay," he said, standing up and wiping the mistiness from his eyes. "Okay, let me get this straight. _She_ told you _she_ 's your _mother_? Wow, I heard from the Kyūbi that _she_ 'd gone insane, but I was definitely not expecting that!"

Breaking out of his daze, the insane shinobi seemed to listen to a voice only he could hear for a couple of moments before turning to Naruto and growling cyptically, "You're lucky Mother warns me against your chakra signature, you'd be dead if you were the person she'd recognized you for at first."

Most shinobi with even jōnin level observation wouldn't have caught the few drips of surprise and seriousness through Naruto's mask, but Indra was definitely not 'most shinobi'. From his few interactions with his enigma of a teammate he'd been able to recognize the hidden genius lying beneath the loudness and eccentricity, and he continued to wonder just how much of his boisterous persona was simply a façade.

The three Suna-nin turned and walked away slowly, and snuck a few glances back at the blonde when a stray giggle escaped through the hands covering his mouth.

Indra was happy to find new information, and particularly happy to find out that the tailed beasts had been imprisoned. In his opinion, they'd always been too unstable and powerful to let roam free. Having Kurama sealed inside his teammate was unexpected, but also made for a very good opportunity at extracting the beast to control with his sharingan, a technique he'd learned about from the tablet beneath his home.

Granted, he'd have to take the life of his teammate, but what was victory without a couple sacrifices here and there?

* * *

AN: Happy Late-Halloween! Has anybody else watched the Boruto movie yet? It's out on kissanime if anybody that wants to hasn't. I was kind of disappointed by the ending and how fast the plot went, though. Thoughts?

p.s. and an answer to a review - Indra is by no means falling for the tablet's lies, only using the information from it that stayed true. (the Sharingan and Kyuubi technique, shinobi corrupting Ninsuu, etc.)


End file.
